Letters to the editor for Feb. 23, 2016

Tuesday

Feb 23, 2016 at 12:01 AM

Readers comment on the biomass contract, gun legislation, whether America is a Christian nation and other issues.

Discredited claimsRob Brinkman's Feb. 15 letter stated Gainesville Regional Utilities made the right choice to purchase power from a third-party biomass plant rather than build its own coal-fired plant, which was the alternative proposal. Nothing could be further from the truth.GRU did not need more power until 2023 at the earliest and therefore did not need to build anything or have overseas energy speculators build a monstrous 100-megawatt biomass plant on city property.GRU customers did not need reckless city commissioners approving the worst utility contract in the country. The 30-year fiscally irresponsible 2009 biomass contract obligates GRU to purchase power for more than twice the market rate. The biomass contract currently costs three times the market rate.Washington is correct (column, Feb. 21). Brinkman is using discredited claims to champion excess profits for the overseas speculators at the expense of GRU's suffering customers.Ernesto MartinezGainesville

Pro-gun proposalOf all the lunatic pro-gun proposals introduced in the Florida Legislature this year, Sen. Wilton Simpson's bill to "allow people to maintain their personal safety while dropping off or picking up travelers" is the most asinine yet.Simpson references "terroristic threats around airports." In my experience the most terroristic threats have always come from the overzealous parking monitors who barely allow one time to put the car in park before aggressively shooing you away.It doesn't matter to Simpson and his Republican colleagues that polls show that the vast majority of Floridians are not comfortable with seeing more guns everywhere. His 93 percent approval rating from the National Rifle Association is more important.Next thing you know Simpson's party will be denying the more than 90 percent of climate scientists who agree that climate change is a reality. Oh!Greg McGannGainesville

Cruel lieI'm a longtime Alachua County resident and a property owner on the east side of Paynes Prairie, close to where 8,700 homes and "non-residential development" are proposed. We the people have little voice in this matter yet it is a huge intrusion.With all the surrounding flatwoods, where will all the sewage drain — my tapwater? It might amount to more than 30,000 new toilets in an area which may be high enough to build on yet is surrounded by inhabited flatwoods and might pollute the local water supply.Plum Creek has every right to sell property that no longer makes them money in pulpwood, but what about the rest of us that have to live down the road with the results of their profit-driven motives? For them to infer that there will be good jobs is disingenuous at best. I see it as a cruel lie. They are not good neighbors.Jeff SterlingGainesville

Pluralist nationIn reply to Charles Risk's Feb 19 letter, ”Christian nation” — America is a pluralist nation. This is because its Constitution is. The First Amendment (including the Establishment Clause) enshrines the fundamental idea that different ideas can and should coexist without the government endorsing (or censoring) any of them.Pilgrims fled because their flavor of Christianity conflicted with the crown's flavor of Christianity. That's a big reason we have been so suspicious of anything that whiffs of the establishment of religion in public squares. Maybe we overdo it sometimes, but that's because we know that bad things result when government and religion get too chummy. Or we used to. Our history is getting rusty, I guess.Speaking of which, "In God We Trust" became the official motto during the 1950s. One of the mottos floating around before then was ”E Pluribus Unum,” Latin for “From the many, one.” Pluralism in a nutshell.Sandy ParkerGainesville

Limit judicial termsNow that the Supreme Court, a body whose principal job is to ensure the laws of our nation do not violate the intent of our Constitution, has been politicized, the term of honorable judges should be limited to better reflect the electorate.Jaleel SiddiquiGainesville

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